The School of Education at Southern University is one of four teacher education programs across the country selected to participate in the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) Project Pipeline Repair (Project PR): Restoring Minority Male Participation and Persistence in Teacher Education. The purpose of the project is to recruit minority males in the 11th grade that have a keen interest in becoming a teacher.

Principal Damon Smith remembers a time when his students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Massachusetts had a black principal, black assistant principal, black mayor, black governor, and black president – all at the same time. But he sees a need for black men to push open the door to the next frontier: the kindergarten classroom.

"We need more practitioners of color, particularly black male teachers, in our classes K-12." he explains in his office on a recent afternoon. "President Obama is just a step. It shows you what is possible,"

1) Scholarships for Minority Males in California2) Helping a young children deal with fear of men teachers3) A Class Debates the Importance of Having Male Teachers4) Louisiana superintendent: More male teachers needed in classrooms5) Report from the “KNIGHTS OF THE KIDS’ TABLE” Men in Early Childhood Education conference in Winnipeg, Canada6) Community College to become new home for Troops to Teachers program in Florida7) CSUN Accelerated Teacher Program Alum Wants to Serve as Role Model for Male Students

Eric Horsley didn’t come from a family of educators, and he was the first in his family to walk across the stage to receive his high school diploma. But it hasn’t taken him long to pick up the language of the teaching profession.

A few years ago, when I started to seriously consider a career in teaching, the possibility of specialising in teaching the under-sixes didn’t even cross my mind. For me the choice was whether to train as a secondary English or primary school teacher.

Near the end of his freshman year at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Ja’Waun Williams heard that a dean there had been a member of the fraternity Williams was pledging.

After bonding over their shared affection for Alpha Phi Alpha, Dean Alfred Tatum persuaded Williams to shift his academic focus. Instead of preparing to teach high school math, Tatum suggested, why not major in urban elementary education?

Three out of four teachers in the San Antonio area are women, and just four percent are black, according to state data.

My Brother’s Keeper San Antonio is accepting applications through Aug. 7, with the aim of placing 30 men in internships at area schools this school year while they obtain alternative teacher certification through Education Service Center Region 20. They need to have their bachelor’s degree to qualify.